Arrow's plan for Curtis Island LNG plant gets green light

ARROW's plans for a $15 billion LNG plant on Curtis Island has been given the green light from the state's Coordinator-General.

Deputy Premier Jeff Seeney welcomed the evaluation report on the Environmental Impact Statement on Monday, saying a fourth LNG development on Curtis Island would provide a major boost to the state's economy.

He said transport, marine life, water quality and social impacts had been evaluated and the project would have a range of strict construction and operating conditions.

Mr Seeney said it was now up to the Federal Government to consider potential impacts to the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area and other matters of national environmental significance within the next month.

He said Arrow had undertaken a comprehensive set of marine and land studies which had been professionally assessed by state and local government advisory agencies.

"While Arrow still has some work to do, with financial close and CSG supply components to be finalised, it certainly reinforces Curtis Island and Gladstone as the Pacific LNG hub," he said.

Mr Seeney said the proposed facility would produce up to 18 million tonnes of LNG a year through a staged development.

The Arrow LNG Plant - also known as the Shell Australia LNG project - will be the fourth LNG plant on Curtis Island off Gladstone.

Its construction will require 3500 workers and about 450 jobs once operational in stage one. The second stage will require another 2300 workers, plus a further 150 once finished.

A 9km pipeline will connect the plant to its network of pipes delivering coal seam gas from the Surat Basin in south-west Queensland and from Bowen Basin to the north.

During construction, up to 1.34 million cubic metres of soil is to be dredged and moved to the mainland as Arrow develops its port infrastructure.

Coordinator-General Barry Broe said that despite the threat of the nearby marine environment being polluted if an LNG carrier ship ran aground or collided with another vessel, he was satisfied that Gladstone Ports Corporation would properly manage the marine traffic.

He wrote that there would be significant benefits to the project on a local, state and federal level, adding that "any adverse environmental impacts can be acceptably avoided, minimised, mitigated or offset" by Arrow's plans.

The Queensland Government is currently lobbying the new Federal Government to dismantle the need for Commonwealth approvals in an effort to reduce red tape on major projects.

The Federal Government now has 30 business days to make a decision on the plant.